Sky and Nine team up to launch new TV channel

Josh McDonnell
By Josh McDonnell | 25 June 2018
 
Kylie Merrit and David Ash

Nine and Australian News Channel (ANC), owner of Sky News and a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, have entered into a partnership to create a dedicated 24-hour business, personal finance and luxury lifestyle channel.

The new channel, Your Money, will be broadcast on free to air on channel 95 and on streaming service 9Now. It will also be made available on Foxtel, as well as its streaming service Foxtel Now.

However, the show will replace Sky Business News on Foxtel.

The content offering will also cover real estate, small and big business market moves and live coverage of the trading day.

Nine's digital lead David Ash, who now becomes the channel's head of digital, says Your Money will target a new type of finance content consumer - the "aspirational Aussie".

The new business and consumer finance brand will also extend across a dedicated digital platform, with further details to be announced soon.

While both broadcast and digital will work in tandem to create an "overall engaging experience", Ash says the digital element of the channel was a "key part" of the rationale behind its launch.

"It's about expanding a traditional TV consumer's viewing options, providing more opportunities for audiences to engage with the content and, subsequently, more advertising options for clients," he says.

ANC commercial director Kylie Merrit says there will be "an extraordinary" number of opportunities for advertisers and hopefully, "in a cross-platform sense."

She says one of the main areas of the channel will be sponsored programming, similar to what Sky News does now with its late-night shows on its business channel.

"Yes, we'll certainly be exploring those options, you can actually make some good, solid, entertaining content that is brand funded, as long as you have an open and strong relationship with your sponsors," Merrit says.

"It's another big opportunity going forward in the broadcast and digital side and, as long as we are really open and honest in our conversations with advertisers, I think it can work really well."

Merrit says if the sponsored content is to work for the audiences, brands who opt into commercial deals must understand "it's not just one giant ad" and it must be focused on making "content the people actually want to consume".

Set to launch later this year, Your Money will be a 50/50 joint venture, with its studio and operations based at the News Corp Australia’s National Business in Sydney.

A dedicated sales team has also been brought on board, with the channel currently hunting for a sales director.

At this point there are no confirmed commercial partners, though, Ash says there is "a lot of real interest".

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